Do you love D-hall? Of course you do. We do too. Todd and I would probably fall into the “slightly obsessed” category when it comes to JMU’s original dining hall. We confess to having spent an inordinate amount of time reminiscing about the meals we loved and laughs we shared in good ol’ Gibbons. Roast turkey and mashed potatoes, wing dings, Mardi Gras night, make your own stir fry, the list goes on and on. We may or may not have even contemplated throwing a JMUSB D-Hall Farewell Party when we heard D-Hall was being torn down. We’ve never written a rap song about it though. But this guy Paddy Stax did. And it’s epic. Check it out and enjoy while we continue to scour the internet for a double LP indie rock concept album about Dour Four Subs.
Just in case you didn’t think one of everyone’s all-time favorite Dukes couldn’t make you any prouder, you really have to read this story in the Jacksonville’s Flordia Times-Union. It certainly reminded us that the field/court can be a springboard to greater things instead of just an end in itself. Seriously, Scotty has to be REALLLLY high on the list of JMU athletes for whom it easiest to pull for in without any qualifications.
Scotty Mcgee with the Jags
On the sadder, immediate front, Men’s hoops is fully in the “rinse and repeat” cycle part of the season now. Decent effort, but everyone not on the same page, and then the second half turns into a train wreck of poor shot selection, shots by the wrong guys, no motion or passing on offense and ultimately just enough breakdowns on D to turn a close game into a larger loss! Good times. That said, it should be noted that – with all due respect to Hofstra’s balanced attack and Damian Lee – William & Mary’s Marcus Thornton is simply the finest player in the CAA. And of course he went off alongside a teammate that recorded the Tribe’s first ever triple-double in school history against JMU this weekend. Ugh. That said, scoring 73 and losing by 8 to the Tribe is not the end of the world, though that’s seemingly very close for Brady’s bunch.
On a happier note, I (Todd) may finally get to see Kenny Brooks’ machine this Thursday at Elon. If anyone else is down here and can make the game, drop me a line.
JMU played an outstanding opening half against CAA favorite Northeastern tonight. The Dukes zone held the Huskies in check, limiting them to just 21 points on 8 of 21 shooting in the opening 20 minutes. On the other end of the floor, JMU shot very well. The Dukes were even effective from beyond the arc, knocking down 4 of 8 threes. It all added up to a 30-21 half-time lead. Unfortunately, NCAA rules mandate that basketball teams must play two halves to make a whole game. And the second half thing didn’t work out too well for the Dukes.
JMU shot poorly after the break. It might not have been Valpo-game bad, but it was pretty ugly. JMU missed shots from long range, from under the basket, and from everywhere in between. Thanks to some garbage buckets in the closing minutes, the final score was a seemingly close 65-59. It wasn’t really close though. Northeastern cruised home for a relatively comfortable win.
There’s really not much to say. JMU played a great first half against one of the CAA’s best teams. Then the Dukes got cold. Ice cold. And they got crushed on the boards, with the Huskies pulling down 21 more rebounds. Poor second half shooting plus poor rebounding doesn’t usually add up to a win. It certainly didn’t this evening.
JMU now finds itself at 9-7 overall and 2-1 in the CAA. The win moved Northeastern to 2-1 in the league and 10-5 overall. Winston Grays was a bright spot for JMU in the loss, leading the team with 15 points off the bench. Yohanny Dalembert reached double figures again, finishing with 13 points on 6 of 9 shooting. He’s not flashy, but he’s really learning how to position himself for easy baskets down low. In addition to the scoring of Grays and YoYo, there were plenty of reasons to be happy with the team in the first half. There was good ball movement, terrific zone defense, and effective shooting. The second half was miserable to the point that I don’t even feel like discussing it. They shot bad, abandoned the zone for some reason, and really got beat in all aspects of the game.
The Dukes have a chance to get back on track with a game at William & Mary on Saturday. If they play like the team we saw in the first half tonight, they could win. If that second half team shows up though…
JMU defeated the College of Charleston by the score of 61-50. It was the first road game of CAA play for the Dukes. The win got them to 9-6 overall and a perfect 2-0 in the league. CofC fell to 5-10 and 0-2 in the CAA. JMU started off strong working for good looks and knocking down shots to get out to an early lead. Then the Dukes got sloppy and CofC ran off 13 straight points to take the lead. It looked like CofC was ready to break the game wide open. Luckily, JMU got it together late in the fist half and went into the break only down 1 by the score of 26-25.
The second half brought some more consistent play from the Dukes. Led by Ron Curry’s game high 19 points on 6-9 shooting, JMU held off a late charge by CofC to close out the road victory. Andre Nation and Yohanny Dalembert joined Curry in double figures, scoring 14 and 12 points respectively. The Dukes got beat on the boards, but capitalized on CofC mistakes, scoring 17 points off turnovers. Defensively JMU’s zone was very effective and helped hold the Cougars to 38% shooting from the field. Overall it was a good win that JMU sorely needed with two tough games coming up against Northeastern and William & Mary. Here are three quick thoughts on the win.
Curry Stepping Up
Curry was outstanding. That’s really all there is to say. He took control of the offense, penetrating to create his own shot or free up others when the defense collapsed. He got to the line and managed to hit 6 of 9 free throws. He was under control and simply too much for CofC to handle. It was exactly the sort of play JMU needs from the junior point guard during CAA play.
CofC’s Announcers Might Have a Better Understanding of Nation Than Some JMU Fans Do
The CofC broadcast team was raving about Nation’s ability. They were going off on his talent and the way his all around ability can change a game. It was a good reminder to many JMU fans (including us) of how dangerous a player Andre is. He is not a pure scorer, but he can slash to the hoop and create match-up nightmares though. And his defense can absolutely change a game. After some of his off season struggles and somewhat slow transition back into the regular rotation, it was nice to of the announcing crew be reminded of what a difference maker he can be. His game did plenty of talking on its own last night though, as he made smart decisions on the offensive end, took good shots, and set the tone leading the zone defense.
The Long Ball is Still an Achilles Heel But…
JMU shot a respectable 49% from the field tonight. That was dragged down by another awful 2 of 10 night from beyond the arc. This team just can’t hit from three point distance. If we’re looking at the bright side though, the team is cutting back on its attempts. The past two games JMU has gone away from shooting so many three pointers and instead focused on scoring in the paint. The Dukes launched 22 three pointers against High Point and followed that up by attempting 26 against Valpo. They missed most of them. That’s not a recipe for success when a team shoots about 30% over a season. There’s nothing wrong with guys like Nation and Curry shooting just enough to keep their defenders honest, but it’s evident this team isn’t going to win many games bombing away from deep. In this win at Charleston, JMU didn’t shoot as many threes and instead focused on getting good looks close to the basket. The result was 32 points in the paint and a nice win.
After a miserable outing against Valparaiso in which the Dukes shot just 23.6% from the field, JMU bounced back to win its CAA opener against Towson on Saturday. The 61-52 victory moved JMU to 8-6 overall and 1-0 in the CAA and snapped a three game skid. Towson dropped to 7-7 and 0-1 in the league. It was the Tigers sixth straight loss after a getting out to a 7-1 start.
The JMU team that played Valpo couldn’t shoot straight. It was honestly one of, if not the absolute worst shooting performances I’ve ever seen. By the end the entire team just looked dejected. Based on the way they bounced back against Towson, it appears that they’re determined to learn from the loss. Thankfully, on Saturday the team shot lights out and seemed to play to its strengths and work for good looks. For the game the team shot 59%, which was the highest mark in four years for a JMU. Jackson Kent lead the way with 15 points on 5 for 7 shooting. Yohanny Dalembert was a perfect 4 for 4 from the field and 6 for 6 from the line for 14 points. Andre Nation chipped in 10 points and did so by sticking to his guns and not launching a single three point attempt. Ron Curry only scored 6 points, but he had a game high 6 assists. To say that it was a better effort and heck of a turnaround would be an understatement.
This is not a Dukes team that is going to light up the scoreboard. On a good night, Jackson Kent will hit 3 or 4 threes, but the roster isn’t full of sharpshooters. Dalembert can score down low and a few of the other bigs can chip in with garbage buckets. Curry and Nation are at they’re best when they’re going to the hole and hitting free throws. Nation is the most talented player, but he’s not a pure scorer. At his best, he can carry a team through his all around effort, penetrating to open space for teammates, playing shutdown defense, and creating turnovers. If he plays at a high level of intensity and his teammates match his effort, this team should win some games. Of course if he plays a a low level of intensity and his teammates match his effort, it’s going to be trouble. The team still lacks a leader on the court, but the win over Towson was a step in the right direction. read more…
Noah Spence played defensive line for Ohio State who had 8 sacks and 14.5 tackles for loss last year as a sophomore. His play earned him first-team All-Big 10 honors. Then he tested positive for ecstasy and was suspended by Ohio State for the Orange Bowl and the first two games of this season. While serving that suspension he failed another drug test and was declared permanently ineligible by the Big 10 Conference. After being declared ineligible, he hinted that he intended to enter the NFL draft and go pro. Since he ranked as high as 22nd second overall on Mel Kiper’s list of draft prospects, that would appear to be an option. His draft stock took a bit of hit due to his suspension and he might feel that another season on the field could help him out. Which had lead to all sorts of rumors. One of which, is that Spence will be using his remaining eligibility to suit up for him former Ohio State Defensive Coordinator in an attempt to boost his draft position. His former Ohio State Defensive Coordinator is Everett Withers. And thus, the rumor mill (or at least a small portion of it centered in the Shenandoah Valley) has Noah Spence playing for JMU next season.
Investigating this sort of thing to determine it’s validity isn’t really our thing. At all. Rumors like this pop up every year for basketball and hoops. As a rule, we try to ignore them. Most of them turn out to be completely false. This one might. Or it might not. We don’t really know. And if we’re being honest, we don’t really care that much right now either. We’ve been ignoring it much the same way we ignore most rumors like this. But people have been bugging us about it so we figured we lay out everything we “know” and let others run with it if they so wish.
Our Twitter buddy @jmudukeblawg is big on this sort of stuff and is a bit of internet sleuth. He contacted us to provided us with the “evidence” he found that shows Spence is coming to JMU. It consists of the screenshot above showing a Noah Spence listed in the JMU online directory. According to @jmudukeblawg he checked the directory last week and there was no Noah Spence. This week he checked again and there’s now a Noah Spence. There you go.
Again, this is nothing more than a rumor at this point. A rumor that we can find no mention of anywhere other than JMU fan message boards and a few JMU fans’ twitter accounts. That doesn’t mean it’s not true or that Spence won’t be showcasing his talents in Bridgeforth next season. He very well might do just that. It’s just not something we’re going to spend a lot of time worrying or writing about at this time.
We’re not trying to be dismissive of those of you who love this sort of stuff. And we’re actually sort of flattered when people reach out to us asking for us to confirm it or dig into this or similar stories. That’s just not what we do though. That’s reporting. We’re more in the emotional rants, snide remarks, and armchair quarterbacking game. If the official word comes that Spence is joining the JMU program, we’ll weigh in with our thoughts. Until that time though, we’ll just sit back and wait.
JMU lost to Valparaiso 79-52 last night in the Convo. The Dukes didn’t just lose, it was more like they got completely run off the court and embarrassed. They scored 16 points in the first half. That’s right, 16 lousy points. For the game the Dukes were a miserable 13 for 55 from the field. That was good for 23.6%. It was in a word, awful. For some reason I actually stuck with it and watched until the end. Rather than recap the massacre in detail, let’s go back and relive it through the magic of Twitter.
Nation getting his second start of the season tonight. Will it be the spark that gets him going? Sure hope so.
— JMU Sports Blog (@JMUsportsblog) December 30, 2014
Act one, in which a blogger expresses some optimism.
Here’s the full list of JMU players who look to have the hot hand from long range thus far: .
— JMU Sports Blog (@JMUsportsblog) December 30, 2014
The optimism started to fade early.
JMU is 1-7 from long range and 1-8 from inside the arc. Hope that doesn’t encourage anyone.
— JMU Sports Blog (@JMUsportsblog) December 30, 2014
It wasn’t really shooting as much as it was throwing the ball in the general direction of the basket.
I’m the only person watching this game, aren’t I?
— JMU Sports Blog (@JMUsportsblog) December 30, 2014
Lonely tweet.
All the Dukes need to do to win is score more points than they have the entire game so far and keep Valpo from scoring. That’s it.
— JMU Sports Blog (@JMUsportsblog) December 30, 2014
I channeled my inner coach and created a foolproof gameplan.
Valpo scored. So scratch our previous gameplan.
— JMU Sports Blog (@JMUsportsblog) December 30, 2014
I swear it would have worked if the players executed.
Not a big “moral victory” sort of guy, but I’m encouraged that JMU’s last few shots have hit the rim. #GoDukes
— JMU Sports Blog (@JMUsportsblog) December 30, 2014
Shoot me.
JMU currently on a 36-62 run.
— JMU Sports Blog (@JMUsportsblog) December 30, 2014
No comment.
The referees are so bored with this game they’re actually addressing the fans’ complaints. JMU trails 62-36 in the 2nd half.
— David DeGuzman (@ddeguzmanWHSV) December 30, 2014
Breaking news live from the scene.
Can’t tell if he’s cleared the bench, or if Brady hasn’t figured out the rotation yet.
— JMU Sports Blog (@JMUsportsblog) December 30, 2014
This is a joke. Or maybe it isn’t. All I know is that there were 5 guys on the court wearing JMU uniforms at that point.
It’s a final. 79-52 Valpo over JMU. Ugly loss for the Dukes should provide plenty of motivation heading into CAA play.
— JMU Sports Blog (@JMUsportsblog) December 30, 2014
At least it’s over.
The Dukes dropped a home contest to Norfolk State last night. After rallying to send the game into overtime, JMU managed to hit only 1 of 8 shots from the field and fell 74-71. The loss left JMU at 7-5 on the season. Norfolk State on the other hand, moved to 9-5. The Spartan’s Jeff Short led all scorers with a career best 30 points. Jackson Kent and Yohanny Dalembert led the way for the Dukes with 17 and 15 points respectively. JMU has now lost 3 of its last 4 contests.
29%
That’s the difference between both teams second half shooting percentages. After a solid opening 20 minutes in which they hit 50% from the field, the Dukes managed to shoot just 32% in the second half. Things continued to get worse as the game continued, with JMU hitting only 13% in the extra period. Norfolk State on the other hand was OK in the opening half, but lights out after the break. The Spartans managed to hit 61% of their field goals in the second half. Here is the obvious kicker, that’s very good for Norfolk State and very bad for JMU. Teams don’t win a lot of games when they can’t hit the side of a barn and they let their opponents basically fire away at will.
Two Schools of Thought
On one hand, you could say that this loss doesn’t really matter in the grand scheme of things. The CAA is a one bid league in every sense of the term. There are some talented players in the conference, but based on what we’ve seen so far the title race will be a race to see who can sustain slightly higher than mediocre play over the course of a weekend in Baltimore (Ed. note: the CAA should make that its conference tourney slogan.) In that sense this out of conference games mean very little and really serve as nothing more than a warm up for CAA play.
On the other hand, this schedule seemed tailor made to let the Dukes iron out a few kinks, rack up a bunch of wins, and hit CAA play brimming with confidence. The opener against UVA (a team that looks scary by the way) was a legit test, but otherwise the calendar has been filled with winnable dates. Some folks might complain about the lack of big name teams, but there’s something to be said for inexperienced teams playing a schedule like JMU’s. Of course the benefit of such a schedule sort of goes out the window when a team drops games to the likes of ECU, High Point, and Norfolk State.
So here we are. Again. Matt Brady is attempting to fill holes left by departing players. He’s got some young, but raw talent on the roster, and a few talented upperclassmen who have yet to reach their potential. The team has shown that it can win games when playing its best. It also has shown that it can fall asleep during games, forgetting to play defense and looking lost on offense. We’ve seen this movie before. It’s only one game and there’s no reason to give up hope. We’d just love to see a little more consistency from this team. The Dukes need to take care of business against the weaker teams on their schedule and play to their potential against the better ones. They’ll get a chance to bounce back and test themselves against a good team next Monday when 12-2 Valpo comes to town.
Christmas is my favorite time of year. The music, the decorations, the parties, I love it all. And while I recognize the true meaning of Christmas has nothing to do with gifts, they can be pretty great too. Especially when they come in the form of a video featuring both Jeff Bourne and Matt Brady getting loose. Loose is a relative term when it comes to Coach Brady by the way. Sure, the hoops team might have suffered a disappointing home loss to High Point over the weekend, but it’s only one game. And we have this video to make us laugh. Curiously, there’s no footage of Everett Withers. Dudes don’t dance I guess.
Nothing is official just yet, but according to reports by the DNR’s Matt Jones JMU’s Drew Mehringer is set to join the coaching staff at the University of Houston. The 27 year old Mehringer served as the Dukes’ co-offensive coordinator along with Brad Davis this past season. If the move to Houston is made official, he’d be joining the staff of new head coach Tom Herman. Drew has a history with Herman, previously serving as one of his graduate assistants at both Iowa State and Ohio State. The move would also allow him to return to his native Texas, where he played QB at Rice. There are no details about what position he’ll have on Herman’s new coaching staff.
JMU’s offense was prolific and shattered several school records under Mehringer and Davis this past season. Davis coached the offensive line and running backs, while Mehringer coached the QBs and receivers. He also called the plays. He’s credited with helping QB Vad Lee adapt to the new offensive system and develop as a passer throughout the season. By all accounts he was well liked by players and is a good recruiter.
If this comes to fruition and Mehringer does leave, it will be disappointing, but not the end of the world. When Withers assembled such a young staff the hope was that at least a few stars would emerge and guys would get poached. We’d be lying if we said we thought it would happen after just one season, but it did. And it’s not the worst thing in the world for a program to develop a reputation as a place where guys can come in and get noticed. Mehringer will leave big shoes to fill, but Brad Davis will provide some consistency on the offensive side. Ideally, Withers will bring in another bright offensive mind ready to build on the success Mehringer, Davis, Vad Lee and the offense had this year and either run the same system or some variation of it. There’s really no need to push the panic button.
Finally, if worse comes to worst, I think Withers should just figure out some way to let the fans call plays on gameday. It’s clearly not that difficult. At least it must not be the way that so many fans (including yours truly) are so ready to question every play call on blogs, Twitter, or from the stands week in and week out. OK, so it might be slightly harder than some of us think, but I’m confident Withers, Davis, and the rest of the staff can welcome someone new and build on this year’s success.
